EU wild meadows protection plan backfires as UK farmers plow them under in advance of new rules

Alessandra Kelley · Sep 3, 2014

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29037804

Watchdog group Natural England reports that an EU regulation, the Common Agricultural Policy, which is meant to preserve Europe's dwindling remaining natural meadowlands, has backfired as UK farmers have begun ploughing their wild fields under before the regulations take effect.

Nearly twice as many farmers as the annual average applied for permits to plough grassland in 2012.

Officials said they had received an influx of calls from farmers worried that reforms to improve nature protection under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would prevent them turning meadows into more profitable arable land.

Brightdreamer · Sep 3, 2014

Wish I could say I was surprised... though, in the farmers' defense, it sounds like they may have felt they'd be losing rights over their own land without any compensation - and, if they're like some places stateside, for a small farm every working acre might mean the difference between paying the bills and selling off to developers, who would do much worse things to the land. I admittedly couldn't get through the whole article, but was there any incentive given for them to keep meadows unplowed, a tax break or anything, or would the law just smack them on the wrist and tell them "hands off"? (Sadly, you can't expect people to do the right thing these days unless there's something in it for them.)

EU wild meadows protection plan backfires as UK farmers plow them under in advance of new rules

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist